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Radovan
heard Ivans's call. When he appeared in the yard, the
animals approached him, licking his feet. An animal also has
a soul - a small one, but at least a soul. Have you seen a
puppy holding onto his mother? Can it do such a thing
without a soul? Without love? You love your children, and so
do animals love theirs. You can feel pain, and an animal,
fear of pain. It' not a sin to eat meat, but those who don't
eat meat ennoble their souls, their natures and their
friends. An animal is not meant for bothering - this is just
an excuse for destroying nature - but for life itself.
Animals should live. We must left them live. |
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A
wise man learns equally from books and from nature. The
Danube, a plum flower, a simple need can teach us something.
This is not simply the administration of nature but a real
lesson. Have you noticed how silently plum petals fall,
without a scream or a cry? How white the ground looks from
the soft leftovers of perfection? The balance is not ruined,
when a thousand blossoms die. The beauty remains, the air is
clear, and refreshing, as if it contained the infinite
existence of the world. Are you sad when you step into
garden with a thousand white petals on the ground? Of course
not; their appearance erases your sadness. You enjoy the
scenery and beauty even though so much death surrounds you.
It surely is useful to learn not only for experience, books
or formulas, but also from plum petals.
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Air,
a splendid silence falling on plants and ground as if it
where the basic meaning of everything that exists, is the
invisible, or what links us to the invisible. Where is the
beginning or end to my father the wind or my mother the
storm? There is no beginning, no ending, to that streaming
thorough the chest, thorough the ennobled soul. The wind
teaches you inside that there is neither birth nor death,
there is only changing of the seasons, high and low tide;
everything is in motion from one to the other. What
can you learn from summer shower? Fresh water pours from the
sky to the hot ground, lasts for but a while, and then |
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the
sun comes again. What is the cause of this? Does it make
sense? Thirsty plants celebrate every drop of that fresh
water. The air around us becomes filled with joy and
optimism - as if we have just remembered something - when?
Maybe before we were born? I don't know. But the water is
here - without any sense of cause, pleasant and important.
There is no difference between a summer shower and poetry.
If the water here has no meaning, no cause, it is the more
pleasurable and necessary. If we learn poetry from summer
shower and poetry itself gives meaning to nature, appearance
must be then "half way" between those two things -
it is the spot where rain transforms into poetry and poetry
into rain. Transformation happens in our very own private
place which is our soul.
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The
soul is the spot where natural laws cross with our desire to
create. Our ideals are within us and not outside us, so
ideal expression is possible only within us, when we direct
our creativity towards the knowledge of nature. When an
artist claims he has expressed his true self in a work of
art, he is close to the truth.
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Ivan
was looking at Radovan's calm face, thinking how he really
didn't know him, that he was a stranger. It sometimes
happens that when we look at a friend's face, that face
looks unfamiliar, unknown. Sometimes, even a mother's face
looks the same way. Only a child is never a stranger to his
own mother.
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•
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You've
changed. |
| Ivan
needed courage to say that, fearing that Radovan would laugh
at him, or notice his uneasiness. |
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•
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Maybe. |
| • |
Perhaps
the heat has something to do with it, or... something has
happened to you tonight... you seem so different. |
| • |
The
way one looks is usually deceptive. |
| • |
Why
do you say that? |
| • |
It
is relevant just now. |
| • |
You
confusing me again. |
| • |
No,
it meant nothing more than that. |
| • |
You've
been posing puzzles all night. |
| • |
Could
be. But no, it's just your imagination. The heat got to your
head. let's go inside. You might cool down. |
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They
went in silently. Radovan made no sound. he walked slowly,
in harmony with surroundings. Ivan was confused by the
silence, the harmony, the peace. He was very anxious to see
what would happen next:
| • |
Do
you know what bothers me about you? |
| • |
What? |
| • |
Silence. |
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| TRANSLATED
BY: Aleksandra Spalevic, TRANSLATION POLISHED BY: Deryn P.
Verity, PROOFREADER Olivera Zurovac |
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©
Nikola Kitanovic, 1986
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